Social media influencer, Reno Omokri, has reacted to the suspension of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, from office.
President Bola Tinubu had suspended the embattled minister after a memo showed that she asked the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Oluwatoyin Madein, to pay N585 million to a private account belonging to one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola.
Reacting to the suspension in a post via his X (formally Twitter) handle on Monday, Mr. Omokri said competence rather than prayers should be the only qualification for high office.
According to him, “Just the fact that Bishop Oyedepo prayed for you to become a minister alone should have made you more conscious of setting a good example. While nobody is perfect, this recent episode, along with the scandal involving the Yes Daddy leaked audio and the Bishop, is yet another indication that we should not mix religion and politics.
“Competence should be the only qualification for high office. An irreligious person who is competent is likely to be better than a religious person who is not competent or capable. We cannot pray for a better country and then pray for people to occupy positions of power that they are not qualified for.
“That is why China, a country that has wholly divorced all forms of religion from its politics, is feeding, equipping and building Nigeria, one of the most religious countries on Earth.”
Mr. Omokri, however, commended President Bola Tinubu for having the courage to suspend the minister from office with immediate effect and for going further to direct the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate her.
“This is as it should be. The Presidential directive shows that the President is alive to his responsibilities and will not tolerate corruption. Additionally, it sends a message to other Ministers and public officials that negative actions will produce negative consequences.
“Many Nigerians hope that after the investigation by the EFCC, there would be a speedy trial and not a cover-up as was widely observed during the disastrous Buhari administration, where several ministers and high officials who soiled their hands were let off with a slap on the wrist.
“Finally, it is expected that the probe will also extend to the minister’s predecessor, during whose tenure, odious and corrupt practices were rampant in the social investment programmes of the Buhari regime”, he said.
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